Today's Questions and Answers

E Kala Mai! We apologize for taking so long to answer some of your questions to crew members while on their voyages to Palmyra. Here are answers to some great questions about Palmyra's wildlife. We hope this will pique your curiosity!

What types of wildlife live on the atoll?
Palmyra is alive with wildlife! On the land, one of the first things we noticed were the red hermit crabs, which were all along the pathways forcing us to watch every step we took so that we wouldn't step on them or sprain our ankles. Hermit crabs live in seashells so it's pretty neat to see the shells moving on the land. The other crabs we saw on land were the orange and purple land crabs, which live along the shore and dig large burrows. And the most distinctive crabs were the coconut crabs, the world's largest terrestrial arthropod. We saw some that were about one to two feet wide. We were told that the largest ones live on Sand Island, which is off-limits to visitors because it is a fragile conservation area.

three hermits crabs crossing the road; photo by Russell Amimoto

Then there are the thousands of birds - seabirds and shorebirds! Palmyra is the only seabird nesting area available within 450,000 square miles of ocean so you can imagine there are a lot of birds there. The main birds we saw were the red-footed boobies. Palmyra supports one of the largest colonies of these birds in the world. These birds nest and roost in trees along the water's edge. There were also masked boobies and brown boobies. Brown boobies nest and roost on the ground. We also saw the brown noddy (noio). They, along with the fairy tern (manu o kū) actually helped us find Palmyra. And who could forget all the frigatebirds (‘iwa). They were soaring high above, often diving in pursuit of other seabirds to take their catch!

For the shorebirds, Palmyra is an important migratory habitat. There are four main shorebird species there - the Pacific golden plover (kolea), wandering tattler (‘ulili), bristle-thighed curlew (kioea), and ruddy turnstones. As the worldwide population estimate of kioea is only 6,000 individuals, Palmyra is an important stop for the 200 or so birds that spend their winters there between their migration path from Alaska and the South Pacific.

What kind of dolphins live there?
As we were getting very close to Palmyra, we saw several marine mammals come close to the canoe. We saw hundreds of bottle nosed dolphins and also melon headed whales, too. They seemed to be escorting us in and surfing along the waves. It was awesome! There are also pilot whales but we're not sure if we saw them.

Are there any endangered marine species there?
While we were snorkeling, we saw the green sea turtle (honu), which is a threatened species throughout its Pacific range. The population of this turtle has seriously declined worldwide due primarily to the taking of turtles and eggs by people. Palmyra is also known to be visited by the hawksbill turtle (honu ‘ea) but we did not see them. More than one million hawksbill sea turtles have been killed for their shells since 1970, which is illegal. Hawaiian monk seals have been reported outside on Palmyra but not often.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has more information on the wildlife of Palmyra.